3 Spring Hill teens used nude photos to blackmail girls, police say

Apr. 6, 2013

Written by

Jamie Page

The Tennessean

How to talk to your kids

Jon Ebert, a Franklin psychologist who works with children and adolescents, shares these tips for talking with your kids about sexting and social media: • Oftentimes, parents who are on social media and cellphones are on them so much that they assume their kids are using them the same way they are, to communicate with friends. They need to ask their children direct questions about what the boundaries are on social media and have a discussion as to what’s appropriate and what isn’t appropriate. • Engage your kids on sexuality. Do not be passive; discuss it in the home. • Talk to your kids about sexting and consider the long-term consequences of those decisions together. Parents need to think out loud with their kids. Ask the child: What could happen if someone took a picture of you and that picture was one you wouldn’t want the masses to see? Go over all the possible ramifications. • Teach your kids about having respect for themselves. “I think kids who do this want respect for themselves and their body,” Ebert said. “The pressure is to be provocative and accepted, but there are other and more suitable ways to achieve this.” • Bring up the topic of drugs and alcohol. “When kids are under the influence or using substances, it lowers their inhibitions and causes them to do things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

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SPRING HILL — Three Spring Hill teens have been charged with 24 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor after police say nude photos were used to extort female classmates.

The three Williamson County boys — one 16-year-old and two 17-year-olds — were arrested Thursday afternoon after what police say was a six-month police investigation that began as “sexting” between teens.

The boys orchestrated a collection and exchange of fully nude and partially nude photos of several female teen classmates, Spring Hill Police Lt. Justin Whitwell said. Originally, the photos were sent via text message by female classmates who initially had relationships with some of the accused teens. The boys then began blackmailing the girls to send more photos, Whitwell said. Police say the boys stored the photos in email accounts and shared the passwords with other classmates.

“In some instances threats were made to the female juveniles that copies of the pictures would be sent to their parents, other students, or even displayed all over their school,” Whitwell said. “This is how the three juveniles would extort more photos for their collection.”

The Tennessean does not identify teenagers accused of crimes unless they are charged as adults.

The boys charged, along with most of the victims, attend Summit High School in Spring Hill, Whitwell said.

Williamson County Schools spokeswoman Carol Birdsong said in a prepared statement: “None of the alleged incidents took place on school grounds or involved school property.”

The three teens have been transported to the Williamson County Juvenile Detention Center. It is unknown how the boys will be tried, but Williamson County District Attorney Kim Helper said her expectation is that they will be tried as juveniles. The potential punishment for juveniles is wide ranging and could include options such as community service, a special curfew or time in a juvenile facility.

Helper and her staff, and police, sometimes speak at local schools to warn students about sexting.

“I recently talked at a middle school about sexting and a parent there said, ‘That is not happening here,’ ” Helper said. “In a general sense, it is happening, and kids need to understand it is wrong and once you put something out onto the Internet, it is there and those things never go away.”

Jon Ebert, a Franklin psychologist who works with children and adolescents and also is an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Vanderbilt University, says the immediacy of technology plus the impulsiveness that comes with adolescence can be a recipe for trouble.

“A lot of adolescents are still developing in their mind the ability to think ahead to the consequences,” he said. “They’re in the moment, and they’re thinking of shock value or just being funny. What they’re not thinking about is the footprint they’re digitally leaving for themselves.

“They’re not thinking about what that footprint can do to them later on down the road or what effect that footprint can also have on others.”

Ebert also pointed out that a lot of adolescents aren’t considering the uncontrollable nature of the Internet.

“They’re not thinking about it being posted, then getting picked up and put on another website after that,” Ebert said. “But, as we adults know, it’s hard to control the picture once it’s out there.”

Car burglaries led to nude photo

The Spring Hill police investigation revealed that the initial sexting that led to the alleged exploitation began in the early part of 2012. Police learned about the photos in October while making an arrest in a vehicle break-in.

Last year, Spring Hill was experiencing a rash of vehicle break-ins. An officer patrolling a neighborhood spotted a car matching the description of one reported at the scene of an auto burglary and began monitoring it. The car, occupied by teen boys, fled when they spotted the police car and ended up crashing on a nearby street.

When police responded to the crash, the teens ran except for one boy who was trapped in the car. Police ended up charging all of the teens in the car in the break-ins, relating to past incidents. After scrolling through the cellphone of the remaining teen in the car, police found a nude photo of what appeared to be a young teen girl.

Police say the boy received the photo from what was later revealed as the ring of three boys arrested Thursday.

Because it’s illegal to possess sexually suggestive nude images of a minor, police began to track the origin of the photo. After officers pinpointed the teens they say were orchestrating the photo scheme, police began contacting the girls in the photos, who told police of how they were being blackmailed, Whitwell said.

“There is a chance we would have never come across this investigation had that photo not come to light on that phone,” Whitwell said. “That is just the luck of the draw.”

Meanwhile, police have more nude images of teen girls who have yet to be identified.

“If you know you may have been involved in this, and the police have not already contacted you, we would ask that you contact the police department because we may have images of you,” Whitwell said. “That may open up Pandora’s box, but that is one of the issues we have is that we have more images that have not been identified, so there could be more pending charges with these boys.”